Razr availability through Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and T-Mobile USA Inc. may be unpredictable until the end of March, according to equity research firm Bear Stearns. That's when the firm expects Motorola Inc. to fix and return Razr batches that were shipped in February, but...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission Friday created its long anticipated Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which is set to take over various functions and issues from seven other entities within the commission. "Many of the problems we saw during Hurricane Katrina were consistent across...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission picked up support from the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to employ blind bidding at June's advanced wireless services auction. But outside of government the proposal has set off a storm of controversy that has wireless carriers largely opposed...
Standardization for faster Wi-Fi technology continues to make progress. The IEEE group working on the 802.11n standard recently voted 82-12 in favor of the standard's first draft proposal. The tentative approval began a 40-day period during which members can offer comments and vote on...
Verizon Wireless ranked at the top of a dozen North American mobile operators in a survey that examined value metrics such as subscriber growth, average revenue per user, churn and subscriber acquisition costs. Meanwhile, Cingular Wireless L.L.C. accounted for more than a third of...
WASHINGTON-Six senators are asking the Bush administration to develop guidelines for a new public-safety interoperable communications grant program to allow for the use of Internet Protocol-based technologies instead of the wholesale replacement of current equipment. "The administration should seriously consider grant proposals to purchase...
LG Electronics Co. Ltd., one of the world's top five handset vendors, plans to acquire South Korean handset rival KTF Technology, allowing LG to go head-to-head with Pantech Group, which is now the top handset vendor in the South Korean market. Pantech acquired SK...
The emerging iconic headset, the gadget plaintiffs' lawyers claim is key to minimizing health risks from mobile phones and that state lawmakers champion as the silver-bullet cure for cell-phone-yakking drivers, is suddenly the suspected culprit behind hearing troubles of teenagers and adults so fond...
By Bradley JohnsonA majority—57 percent—of teens age 13-17 now have a cell phone, but that’s far below the 80 percent of adults 18-plus who own a phone. Still, for a glimpse of the future, look no further than Generation Wireless.Cell-phone users age 13-17 are...
Mobile virtual network operator Cool Mobile has big plans for this year, starting off today by expanding its cool.Prepaid handset lineup to six Motorola Inc. devices and aiming to offer hybrid and postpaid service plans by the end of the year. The MVNO also...
SAN JOSE, Calif.—GPS chipset provider SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. said it acquired TrueSpan, a two-year-old company that is developing chips for mobile TV. The acquisition is part of SiRF’s plans to develop chips for a variety of wireless technologies.TrueSpan’s platform is based on OFDM...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—VeriSign Inc. continued its spending spree, inking an agreement to shell out $250 million in cash for mobile messaging and content services provider m-Qube Inc. M-Qube powers mobile storefronts and marketing campaigns for media companies and major brands including Sony Pictures, Warner...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—L.M. Ericsson and Lucent Technologies Inc. could find themselves in a bidding war today for Ethernet developer Riverstone Networks Inc. Ericsson submitted a competing offer for Riverstone just over a month after Lucent and Riverstone agreed to a $170 million purchase price...
What does $67 billion buy these days? Convergence nirvana, for one thing. If AT&T Inc.'s offer for BellSouth Corp. gets approved, as it's expected, big-time convergence could finally start happening in real-world terms. Bundled communications services from a range of wired and wireless network...
Google Inc. is dipping its toe in the mobile browser business, formatting Internet sites for users surfing the wireless Web. But legal experts say the Internet giant may be infringing on copyrights in the process. The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm has developed software that...
It was a week of mixed results for regional carriers, as numbers trickled in from a handful of operators-some of which had delayed their reporting or had to restate prior earnings. Leap Wireless International Inc. had a slightly weaker-than-expected fourth quarter, but the company...
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-Alltel Corp. announced it purchased the remaining 50-percent interests in 10 partnerships with Palmetto MobileNet L.P. that it did not already own. The partnerships cover about 2 million potential customers in North and South Carolina. Alltel did not disclose the value of...
IRVINE, Calif.-More people preferred comedies and adventure movies over Academy Award-winning best picture "Crash" when searching for movie information over mobile devices. Go2 Movies announced the top most-searched movies in 2005. "Wedding Crashers" came in at No. 1, while "Crash" ranked 11th.The mobile search...
Mobile virtual network operator Cool Mobile has big plans for this year, starting off today by expanding its cool.Prepaid handset lineup to six Motorola Inc. devices and aiming to offer hybrid and postpaid service plans by the end of the year. The MVNO also...
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. rolled out a new pricing plan-without its signature Rollover feature-in a move to counter a similar plan offered by T-Mobile USA Inc. Cingular's Nation 1000 plan for $40 per month includes nationwide long distance and roaming, but does not offer unlimited...
SBA Communications Corp., the nation's fifth-largest tower company, is offering $1 billion to acquire AAT Communications Corp., the nation's sixth-largest tower company.SBA said it will pick up AAT's 1,855 owned tower sites along with an additional 250 revenue-producing managed sites in 44 different states....
WASHINGTON-Congressional auditors said the deployment of wireless enhanced 911 services continues to progress, but that some states could take five more years and others may not ever fully implement the emergency location service. "Significant progress has been made toward implementing wireless E-911 throughout the...
You can almost smell the blood. It's pre-auction season. And this year, with some decent spectrum up for grabs in the AWS auction set for June, the battle should be intense. As such, a number of interests are pressuring the government to change some...
Steve Wozniak has put the brakes on the Wheels of Zeus. The Apple Computer co-founder formed the start-up four years ago in an effort to "help everyday people track everyday things," according to a press release announcing the company’s launch. WoZ, as the company...
